Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think euthanasia should be legal in the UK

251 replies

ThereWillBeAdequateFood · 01/07/2019 17:40

Just that really. Many countries have legalised euthanasia for terminally ill adults. I think it’s about time the U.K. did the same?

It’s not right that it’s only an option for those with the money to go abroad to have this as an option.

OP posts:
OralBElectricToothbrush · 02/07/2019 15:29

The 17 yo child rape victim who legally euthanised herself has already prompted calls for euthanasia to he reviewed in the Netherlands.

And AGAIN, she was NOT euthanised! She killed herself. Her application for assisted suicide was declined. She was told to complete her treatment and therapy. She chose not to, and, as an adult, was not forced to endure more treatment she did not want. She killed herself.

OralBElectricToothbrush · 02/07/2019 15:53

I agree 100% Almost.

sleepyhead · 02/07/2019 16:46

I wonder if it would be possible to include an irrevocable opt-out with any euthanasia legislation?

i.e, you could choose to declare that you did not want the option of euthanasia for yourself at any point and for any reason. Once declared, it could not be overturned for any reason. There would be no point in anyone trying to persuade you, it would not be in your power or that of any court to revoke it.

Therefore, if you wanted to, you could put yourself in the same position that you would be if no legislation had been passed, but those who wanted the possible option could have it.

poppiesinafield · 02/07/2019 18:44

Where I work (acute hospital ward) there was recently a man with an abdominal aortic aneurysm, which was very large (7-8 cm according to scans). At some point, this was going to burst, and according to staff who had seen it happen to other people, it's a horrific, incredibly painful death. This elderly man who was a treasure in every way, had recently lost his wife and had no children, and told us all that he wished to die. Nothing we could do about it and at some point, that aneurysm is likely to burst. He has since been discharged to a nursing home. I have thought about him often and in this case why we cannot give somebody a dignified death rather than waiting for them to die in screaming agony is absolutely beyond me.

Hithere12 · 02/07/2019 18:54

In countries like US it’s much easier to kill yourself (with a gun). The suicide methods are much more grim and hard to do if you genuinely are suffering and want to end your life.

HopelessLayout · 02/07/2019 22:28

Everyone who is in agreement with OP please join the Campaign For Dignity in Dying.

higgley · 04/07/2019 10:05

That's really upsetting poppiesinafield. No dignity for that poor man at all. Is so incredibly wrong in every level.

ineedaknittedhat · 04/07/2019 11:23

I'm leaving my 30 year nursing career as I can no longer handle the way life limited people are being treated. No proper explanation about the effects that their disease will have in the future which means they can't make an informed consent about things like peg tubes being fitted - which are then used to prolong life into a stage where great suffering is unavoidable. Forced treatment by doctors and a refusal to allow a natural death and maintain a person's dignity and comfort. I can't be involved in these processes anymore and it goes against everything I've been taught, my experience and beliefs surrounding end of life issues.

EmeraldShamrock · 04/07/2019 11:49

🌟🌟 Everyone who is in agreement with OP please join the Campaign For Dignity in Dying 🌟 🌟
Extra highlight.
Thank you signed.

Hithere12 · 04/07/2019 12:06

@ineedaknittedhat

Jeez. I honestly think when I start declining in old age I’ll just kill myself to avoid all this.

ineedaknittedhat · 04/07/2019 13:24

I think people need to realise just how badly wrong things can get in end of life care. I have cared for several people who had capacity and refused the fitting of a peg tube. However, their closest relative insisted on one being fitted anyway and the patient was in no fit state to fight it. These people can be made to exist for years in a paralysed state unable to express pain or their needs other than perhaps making a noise. Pain control is often inadequate or overlooked by busy staff.

Another person is in such a bad state after being artificially forced to remain alive that they can no longer tolerate any nutritional fluids via peg so are starving to death. If they are fed, they regurgitate the liquid and choke or inhale it into their lungs.

People who oppose assisted dying have absolutely no idea of just how bad things can get.

Loopytiles · 04/07/2019 16:50

Also, in addition to the terrible suffering of the dying person, these awful events can cause short, medium and long term psychological damage to close family members, including carers, some of whom are children.

Readytogogogo · 04/07/2019 16:54

People who oppose assisted dying have absolutely no idea of just how bad things can get

That is not true. Many of us work in healthcare and see the clear risks to vulnerable people. I regularly give end of life care.

Alsohuman · 04/07/2019 16:56

Shame you can’t give end of life.

OralBElectricToothbrush · 04/07/2019 17:03

Everyone who is in agreement with OP please join the Campaign For Dignity in Dying.

This. x1000!

Alsohuman · 04/07/2019 17:28

Just done it. Thank you for pointing me that way.

PreseaCombatir · 04/07/2019 17:31

I totally agree OP.
I had a family member on the Liverpool care pathway.
They were in so much pain, but the doctors refused to give anymore pain relief because, get this, there was a chance they would overdose and die.
It was inhumane🤷‍♀️

ThereWillBeAdequateFood · 04/07/2019 17:39

I saw the same thing happen with my grandad presea so sorry. Awful thing to watch and awful thing to go through.

OP posts:
PreseaCombatir · 04/07/2019 19:09

ThereWillBeAdequateFood
I’m sorry to hear about your grandad, It’s absolutely horrendous isn’t it Flowers

CherryPavlova · 04/07/2019 19:13

ineedaknittedhat. I’m not sure you can extrapolate that because have a different view to yours that they are all ill informed.
If you well informed you might understand relatives cannot insist on insertion of a PEG. Any doctor placing one against a person’s wishes would be acting against their professional guidance and code of conduct as well as illegally. If there were concerns either about their capacity to consent or coercion an application should have been made to the Court of Protection.
What you describe is a professional failing to protect a vulnerable person not an argument for euthanasia.

Hithere12 · 04/07/2019 19:17

We have a government willing to cut people’s disability benefits to the point where they are dying, yet the government is willing to spend thousands on keeping people alive in pain and in a vegetative state where they’d probably rather be dead.

Hithere12 · 04/07/2019 19:18

I bet the majority of people in UK are pro euthanasia. It just shows we don’t really live in a democracy. Aren’t the governmental policies supposed to represent the views of the people.

TakenForSlanted · 04/07/2019 19:22

I thought about NC, but - on balance - we weren't that close so it's hopefully not that outing:

My uncle shot himself to death with a pistol he owned for professional reasons when his cancer returned for the 3rd time and he couldn't cope with the prospect of having even more limbs amputated and still dying an agonisingly slow, painful death.

As said above: we weren't that close. But he will always figure in my memories as this larger than life figure. This incredibly smart and charismatic man, who would enter a room and you'd literally feel his presence even if you had your back turned to the door.

I hate to think that this is where he ended up: alone, in a place where he would easily be found (so as not to worry anyone unneccesarily) but not at his home (so as to spare his wife and son the shock of finding his body).

I hate to think of the fact that he told his family that and how he was going to do it. And when. And how.

I hate the idea that the last thing he ever did must have taken incredible courage. He should have been able to let go of big decisions and responsibility in his final days.

He deserved better. He should have been allowed to fall asleep in comfort, surrounded by his loved ones.

It's not right.

And, yes, euthanasia should be legal.

LadyFlumpalot · 04/07/2019 19:47

Completely agree. My mum died from cancer last year and you wouldn't have left a pet to suffer in the way she suffered.